Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Spanish term or phrase:
que no nos va a dar para el pan
English translation:
that's not going to put food in our mouth/s
Spanish term
United States
Laudable Lady Linguist
Native in: English 
Works in: Spanish to English, French to English, English to Spanish, and 3 more.
que no nos va a dar para el pan
Ella miraba al suelo. Estaba impaciente Tenía esa postura tan filosófica de ponerse la mano derecha debajo de la barbilla.
-Ah, - dijo tras unos segundos. Y no vengas con el periódico, que no nos va a dar para el pan.
This woman is afraid that's she's not going to have enough money to buy all of her daughter's textbooks when they go to buy them.
Mil Gracias,
Barbara
Sep 6, 2014 14:19: Barbara Cochran, MFA Created KOG entry
Non-PRO (1): AllegroTrans
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Proposed translations
Spain
Especialista de marketing
Native in: English 
Works in: Spanish to English, Catalan to English
that's not going to put food in our mouth/s
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Note added at 21 minutos (2014-09-01 17:04:17 GMT)
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Or "that won't put food on the table/our plates"
because it/that won't help us eat
Argentina
B.A. in EN-ES Legal Translation
Native in: Spanish
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish to English
that it won´t make ends meet
Hope this helps :)
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Note added at 16 mins (2014-09-01 16:58:47 GMT)
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*to establishing priorities. Sorry :)
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Danik 2014
: But it could also mean that the husband works for a newspaper but doesn´t earn enough money.
29 mins
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Sure, that's another option. Thanks, Danik :)
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or we won't even have enough to buy a loaf of bread
"Evidentemente con 400 eur llevando una casa sola no me da ni para pipas!!"
http://www.todoexpertos.com/categorias/negocios/empleo/respu...
So what she means is that if you go wasting our money newspapers we won't have enough to buy food. I think you could do it fairly literally; it sounds reasonably natural to me. Anyway, that's what it means.
"Truckers slept in their cabs while the one security guard, who got paid three bucks fifty an hour - not even enough to buy a loaf of bread - stood freezing in the doorway of his wooden hut by the gate."
http://books.google.es/books?id=DyoHvVEliEwC&pg=PA137&lpg=PA...
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Note added at 1 hr (2014-09-01 17:50:18 GMT)
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Sorry: wasting our money ON newspapers" (paragraph 3).
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Note added at 1 hr (2014-09-01 18:24:27 GMT)
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If it meant that the newspaper is not going to put food on the table it would be "que eso no nos va a dar pan", or something similar. But "para el pan" indicates that it means "no nos va a llegar": we're not going to have enough money (to do something).
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Note added at 3 hrs (2014-09-01 20:08:22 GMT)
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Maybe "we won't (even) be able to afford to eat".
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Susie Rawson
: I believe it literally means that if he spends the money in the newspaper, they won´t have enough for bread. Pure and simple.
5 hrs
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Thanks, Susie :) I think so too, though I admit "no nos da para pan" could be taken more broadly as "we won't have enough to survive".
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| agree |
Estela Quintero-Weldon
: I agree with your rationale
3 days 8 hrs
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Thanks very much, Estela :)
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